Biologists have found a “missing link” in the evolution of life from non-life – RIA Novosti

13:47 25.04.2016

(updated: 14:01 25.04.2016 )

9339 22 5

Biochemists from the US say they have managed to create a molecule resembling “letters” of DNA and RNA from primitive “building blocks of life” which can be found in the primary oceans of the Earth.

MOSCOW, April 25 – RIA Novosti . Evolutionary scientists have made a major breakthrough in uncovering the secrets of the origin of life – the first time they managed to collect a molecule resembling bases of RNA and DNA from primitive “building blocks of life,” according to an article published in the journal Nature Communications

“Early. Earth can be represented as extremely sloppy lab, which produces a number of different molecules necessary for life Some of them have survived and flourished, while others have become extinct over time This also applies to those molecules that gave life to the RNA “-.. said Nicholas Hud (Nicholas Hud) Georgia Institute of Technology (USA).

Back in the 50′s of last century, American chemists Stanley Miller and Harold Urey repeated the first stages of the biochemical evolution of life by creating a set of amino acids and other “building blocks of life” in a solution of water and simple inorganic substances. This allowed the scientists to talk seriously about abiogenesis -. The origin of life as a result of processes in inanimate nature

These experiments were repeated recently, however, scientists have not progressed beyond the synthesis of amino acids and prototypes of the future of fats – there were problems both with the appearance of sugary substances, included in DNA and RNA, and assembly with themselves “carriers” of genetic information. Only recently, chemists have learned to receive dextrose and other sugars, not tar, using the “Martian” chemicals, and there was only the last stage -. The assembly of RNA and DNA

Hud and his colleagues claim that they were able to implement this stage in the evolution of life from inanimate nature, experimenting with various substances, which appear in the test tubes in the course of experiments, repeating the experiments of Miller-Urey.

With just two simple organic molecules – barbituric acid and an aromatic hydrocarbon, melamine, – the authors were able to create a set of nitrogenous bases, very similar to adenine, guanine, cytosine and uracil – “building blocks” of RNA and DNA. Scientists call them C-BMP and MMP.

According to the researchers, these “proto-letters” of DNA is well linked with ribose and other sugars and even formed a pair of two opposite each other on value grounds as it happens in real double chain of DNA and RNA. As the researchers note, the similarity of them with these nitrogenous bases in DNA and RNA is so great that, in principle, they can claim the role of chemical “ancestors”.

“Of course, in order to make such a statement, we need to find a mechanism by which the data nucleotides could become a classic “four” bases in DNA and RNA. we have no idea how this could have happened, but nevertheless, there are dozens of ways to do this. Today, we are getting closer to molecules which formed the basis of the first living beings “- concludes Ram Krishnamurthy (Ram Krishnamurty), Hada colleague at the institute

.